flap operator said:
You are on control of your contract... not Mesaba, Mesa, Chautauqua or anybody else. Different threats, different earnings, different agreements with the mother airline all make it too convoluted for true comparison.
Unfortunatley, this is not true. As much as I wish it were. It is not. That's just a fact.
I will give you credit where credit is due though and admit that you Messaba guys did pretty good, in your work rules area. You should have not negotiated 50 seat rates though without having 50 seat equipment. You could have crossed that bridge when you came to it, an possibly gotten great rates.
Now... The bottom line is that the NMB regarless of our protests has lumped us into the same catagory as all of the airlines you mentioned. Period.
We have NO control over this. The NMB is like the shark that eats you. Once it makes up it's mind (which the NMB has). It's not personal, yet it will not listen to reason, or care when you scream out in pain. Once the shark has decided to eat you, it will. You can fight back to the best of your ability, but short of having any weapons, your efforts will probably fall short, and you will be supper.
That is what has happened with us and the NMB. We have done everything we can to convince them that we are doing mainly mainline flying in an all get fleet and therefore should earn liniar mainline type wages. The NMB has disagreed, and says we are just another 50 seat jet carrier and should earn 50 seat jet type wages.
When the NMB quotes 50 seat jet wages, they cite the recent contracts that have ben signed and lump us into that catagory. Regardless of how much we want, the NMB simply looks at the last contracts that have been signed and says we need to be in that ballpark. So, in closing... Since nobody else has really raised the bar in the last few years, it is now going to be next to impossible for us to get a substantial gain. We can pi$$ and moan all we want to, but the NMB will NEVER release us unless we are at least in the same ballpark as the bottom feeders that have hosed us, by hosing themselves. It sucks, but that's the way it is.
Yes, it is our Management playing hardball... That's their job. But we owe a deep thanks (insert finger) to all the bottom feeders that handed our management the loaded gun to kill us on payrates.